As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An information handling system may include one or more power supply units for providing electrical energy to components of the information handling system. Typically, a power supply unit is configured to convert an alternating-current waveform received at an input to a bulk direct-current waveform, which is in turn converted at the output of the power supply unit to an output direct-current waveform used to power components of the information handling system. Thus, a power supply unit may include a rectifier and/or power factor correction stage configured to receive the input alternating current source and rectify the input alternating waveform to charge a bulk capacitor to a desired voltage. A direct-current-to-direct-current stage may convert the voltage on the bulk capacitor to a direct-current output voltage provided to components of the information handling system in order to power such components.
Using traditional approaches, existing power supply units often have low efficiencies at light loads. Typically, a main power stage of a power supply unit is optimized for higher loads in order to meet thermal requirements of a system. Thus, for lower loads of the power supply unit, power supply efficiency may be much lower.
In addition, information handling systems are seeing increasing demand for standby power. Existing PSUs used in information handling systems often include a standby power converter as a low power cost optimized design which may be less efficient and limited in power capacity. Future generation information handling systems are expected to have a higher demand for standby power (e.g., three times the requirement of existing systems).
Furthermore, traditional power supply units often lack scalability. For example, if a need arises to increase power capacity in an information handling system, a user of the information handling system may need to swap out a lower-capacity power supply unit in favor of a higher-capacity power supply unit. The range of capacities required for information handling system servers (e.g., 500 W to 2400 W) requires multiple parts to be designed and stocked, leading to complexity.